Given the substantial increase in use of wireless devices which are operable to access the Internet, such as laptops, personal digital assistants, and cellular phones, the number of wireless communities, public as well as private, has grown considerably. For example, it is not uncommon to walk into any well known coffee shop and see people accessing the Internet via a wireless community made available by the coffee shop.
The prevalence of these wireless communities represents an important trend that users are no longer satisfied with only being able to access the Internet from their desk or home. Instead, users are demanding information services wherever they go. The wireless communities allow users to access the Internet at different locations and possibly communicate with other users via email. However, outside of email, a wireless community typically does not allow a user to communicate with other users in different wireless communities.